Badam Halwa – easy, failproof recipe in a pressure cooker!

Preparing Almonds and Saffron Milk

• Soak almonds in warm water for 30 mins to 1 hour. Peel skin and grind adding milk by tablespoons to a  paste. It is easier if you run it dry to crumbs and then add milk to a paste. It need not be a fine paste, some coarseness is okay. It’s to be done in small batches.

  Note that for cooking in open pan, we can use more milk and make a slightly loose paste however for making in the pressure cooker – we only only less milk.
• Soak saffron in ½ cup of warm milk (if following pressure cooker method, soak in 1/4 milk). A tip I’ve learnt is to toss the saffron in an empty iron pan to warm it and then add to milk. This helps to bring out flavour. An additional tip is to microwave the milk and saffron mixture in 30 second intervals.

To make Badam Halwa in an open pan

• In a heavy bottomed pan, add the badam mixture, sugar, cardamom powder and stir in a low flame.
• After 5-7 minutes, it will start foaming. Keep stirring in a low flame.
• Then small bubbles will form, continue stirring in low flame for 3-5 more minutes and then add the saffron milk.
• The colour will change to a golden yellow slowly. Keep stirring until all bubbles fully subside.
• Now, start adding ghee in teaspoons. Make sure you add only one tsp a time and add the next one only after the previous one is absorbed. You will use upto ¾ cup of ghee in thus process, however depending on your preference you can reduce or increase this by ¼ cup.
• Keep stirring until it thickens. Test for consistency ( this is my own idea, non scientific) – take a ghee greased spoon, dip into halwa and drop the halwa back, it has to fall off in one shot and not as a stream. At this stage, turn off and remove to a cooler vessel.
• Once it reaches a thick paste like consistency, turn the flame off and remove off fire. Now use a spatula and bring the whole mixture together.
• I prefer to mix it off heat until it cools down slightly. If you use less ghee, it will be sticky. If you use too much, it will be very glossy.
• Let it cool in room temperature.
• Then,  make into pockets or serve as is. Badam halwa is best had at room temperature or slightly warmed in the microwave (10-20 seconds for 1 portion)

To make Badam Halwa in a pressure cooker

• Soak, peel and grind almonds into a paste adding saffron soaked milk.
• In a pressure cooker ( I used 3 L pressure pan), add 2 tbsp ghee and spread over the base. Add 250 grams sugar + ⅓  cup water. Keep on high for 6 whistles ( comes with 5 mins).
• Turn off, release pressure immediately and  badam paste, cardamom and stir well. It will be a paste, and not yet an halwa. Make sure the badam paste is not very runny when using the cooker method. It has to be a thick paste.
• Add ghee in batches, keep in the slowest flame and stir until it thickens into an halwa. I added about ¼ cup in each batch and stirred until the ghee is absorbed. Add next batch only after it is fully absorbed. Ensure it is fully on a low flame. The whole process takes only 6-7 minutes.
• Test for consistency ( this is my own idea, non scientific) – take a ghee greased spoon, dip into halwa and drop the halwa back, it has to fall off in one shot and not as a stream. At this stage, turn off and keep cooker closed with weight for 5 minutes, open and serve.

Using Almond Meal instead of peeled almonds

• If using almond meal, mix with saffron milk into a smooth paste and proceed as per the above recipe. The amount of almond meal required may be a little more than soaked almonds depending on the texture. But, in my experience it works out more or less in the same measure.

  The reason I personally prefer soaked and ground almonds is due to the coarseness a ground mixture adds. However, almond meal is an excellent substitute taste wise.

• Soak almonds in hot boiling water for 20 – 30 minutes, peel and grind adding saffron milk to a thick paste. Note we are only adding less milk, so it will be a thick paste.
• To a 2L pressure cooker, add sugar + 1 tbsp ghee + water and pressure cook for 6 whistles on medium flame. Takes about 5 minutes.
• Release pressure immediately, add the almond mixture, and 2 tbsp ghee and stir in a low flame for 2 minutes.
• Add ghee in tsp, stirring well after each addition. Ensure it’s fully on low flame.
• In about 6-7 minutes, halwa is ready.
• Keep cooker closed with weight for 5 minutes, open and serve.